Adventures of a Gastronomer
A blog for the love of all things culinary... and then some
-
Photo reblogged from America's Test Kitchen
It’s a throwdown between Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country recipes in the Test Kitchen. Who has the better meatloaf? (A live Instagram snapshot from the Test Kitchen. http://instagr.am/p/kRw8w/)
A battle for the ages…
-
Photo reblogged from Laughing Squid Links
Peanut Butter Sandwiches??…. I love those!
-
Pumpkin beers review
In a previous photo post I had the Phillips Crooked Tooth Pumpkin Ale, Whistler Brewing Chestnut Ale & Howe Sound Brewing Pumpkineater Imperial Pumpkin Ale. Above we have the Elysian Night Owl Pumkin Ale from Seattle. I also tried Brooklyn Brewing’s Post Road Pumpkin Ale and Central City Brewing’s Pumpkin Ale
After all these beers?… Hands down, Elysian Night Owl was the best, not overly spiced with cinnamon and such and quite a nice pumpkiny flavour that had a long lasting finish. The most pumpkiny of all I tried. Would totally have this again.
Although not a pumpkin beer, a close second was Whistler’s Chestnut Ale. Intense caramel flavours with a hint of spice and vanilla (nothing like the awful smack in face vanilla of Lions Winter Ale by GIB). This would make an excellent dessert beer, freaking delish!
Also would recommend either the Post Road or the Central City if your looking for a sixer. Both were good but not great, good for a party and highly portable. Kind of middle of the road in terms of pumpkin or spice flavour, great for a week night too
The worst? Crooked Tooth. I love Phillips a lot but this should have been dumped at brewery, totally tasteless.
Lastly if you’re really looking for that “hey I think the bartender just dropped some pumpkin pie in my glass” kinda beer, then head over to Steamworks and have a pint of their version. Heavy on all that creamy cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice kind of flavour then this is your brew. Absolutey awesome.
Now where did I put those Christmas beers….
-
Photo reblogged from Laughing Squid Links
-
Affogato at Bello Gelateria
Went to the famous Gelateria in Coal Harbour the other afternoon after hearing many good things. Feeling a bit tired in the late afternoon I opted for the affogato, gelato with a shot of espresso. I had mine with the cinnamon, and wow! Absolutely destroyed any “pumpkin spice latte” I’ve ever had. Rich, creamy, the interplay of hot & cold and ohhh so much cinnamon. After sampling many of the other flavours (like the wife’s chocolate brownie) I would rate this gelateria a definite must go. Just make sure you go for a walk afterwards
-
Whole Hog course @Big Lou’s Butchershop
I found a great Groupon a while back and decided to take a course on separating, and deboning a whole hog. Contrary to popular belief, most kitchens rarely see a whole animal, or any major primal cuts for that matter. They either do not have the time, the space to store it or the ability to pay someone with the proper skill- set to do it. However, the old is becoming new again and artisanal butchery is in vogue and that is how i found myself with 5 other foodies from diverse backgrounds watching a very talented German meat cutter hack apart a pig on the downtown eastside.
The process was methodical and simple. First remove the trotters, or feet. Start at the back and loosen the tenderloin from the hind leg. Then remove the leg. Then in the front end, cut an ‘L’ shape near the front leg to remove it. Now you are left with the main part of the pig. Fully remove the tenderloin. Take the carcass to the butchers saw and separate rib from belly by cutting along the rib cage. Separate the loin and neck and then cut the loin into chops. The hind leg is separated into top round, bottom round, knuckle,and sirloin. The front leg is separated into blade and shank.
Most of these cuts could be modified to suit whatever needs you have for cooking, such as fully deboning the belly to make bacon. I could not help but be reminded of the part of Bill Burford’s book ‘Heat’ where he takes a whole hog through the streets of NY and up to his small apartment to try his hand at butchery. I am inspired
-
Roaming Dragon - there is such a thing as a “free lunch”
Well I finally had an opportunity to check out Roaming Dragon one of the first of food trucks to hit the scene in Vancouver. Last Saturday they were handing out a free lunch in conjunction with a new condo development in Marpole. After waiting for around 45 minutes I was treated to definitely the best free lunch ever.
An impressive feat considering many of my fellow diners were pensioners and other cheapees with nothing better to do than complain about the wait. I mean really?… IT”S FREE!!! Hats off to the crew in the truck who maintained smiles all round, and produced excellently executed flavourful food, complete with restuarant style garnishing…Wow!
The basil-lychee lemonade was amazing, refreshing and made on the spot to order. The Korean taco was great, earthy with bits of crunchy carrots and steamed greens to compliment. The pork belly sandwich on Chinese bun was delish, not as good as the one I had at Momofuku in NY, but still pretty decent. I would have like to have a little more belly. The soba noodle salad was probably the low point, but all in all not bad, just seemed like the noodles had sucked up most of the vinaigrette. The final one was what I would call, hands down the best pulled pork sandwich I have ever had! Done banh-mi style (as all the food is pan-Asian with a twist), the pork was juicy and succulent and was balanced nicely with a crusty French bun. So good I failed to get a picture before it was eaten!
-
Beer report #2 Driftwood’s La Belle Royale Strong Belgian Cherry Ale. Great end of summer beer and what better time to crack it than on a late warm September Sunday afternoon. Me and wife shared this 9% concoction on the patio after a long walk. Slightly reddish-pink hue in the glass and sour overtones with a crisp clean finish on the palette. Very refreshing but would have enjoyed a more pronounced cherry flavour. Highly recommend pick one up of you can find any before the summer’s over.
